Peter Schjeldahl
Peter Schjeldahl (born 1942) is an American poet and art critic. Life Schjeldahl was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in small towns throughout Minnesota. He attended Carleton College and The New School. He began his professional writing career as a reporter in Minnesota, Iowa and New Jersey. In 1964 he traveled to Paris for a year before settling in New York City in 1965. Since coming to New York he has worked as an art critic for ARTnews, the New York Times, the'' Village Voice'' (1980 to 1998), and 7 Days (The Cooper Union). In 1998 he joined The New Yorker where he is currently the head art critic. His writings have also appeared in Artforum, Art in America, the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. During his career Schjeldahl has written several books of poetry as well as art criticism. He taught at Harvard University, in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, for four years. Schjeldahl lives in New York. He is married to Donnie Brooke Alderson, a former actress. They have one child, Ada Calhoun Schjeldahl, who writes under the name Ada Calhoun. Writing Schjeldahl’s poetry falls in line with many of the characteristic themes and styles of the New York School. As a contemporary postmodern poet, Schjeldahl believed that poetry should be enjoyed and understood by all readers. In an interview with the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Blackbird Schjeldahl commented on how “there are no rewards in being obscure or abstruse or overbearing” (Wolgamott). His poetry succeeds without a great deal of complexity in language usage or style while maintaining seriousness and poignancy. Schjeldahl’s poetry often addresses common experiences or familiar events. In his poem “My Generation” he opens: “Vietnam/ Drugs/ Civil Rights/ Rock/ Watergate/ (in that order?)/ Are the blows of history/ That have left my generation/ Its peculiar battered silhouette.” Schjeldahl fuels his poetry with historical and biographical context, allowing audiences to relate more intimately to his subject. In an interview with Blackbird Schjeldahl stated writing things that people want to read is my bread and butter (Wolgamott). Recognition Schjeldahl was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1995. In 1980 he received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for art criticism by the College Art Association. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute named Peter Schjeldahl the winner of the 2008 Clark Prize for Excellence in Arts Writing. The prize was established in 2006 to recognize writers who advance public appreciation of visual art in a way that "is grounded in scholarship yet appeals to a broad range of audiences." It comes with a $25,000 honorarium and an award designed by architect Tadao Ando. Publications Poetry *''White Country: Poems''. New York: Corinth Books, 1968. *''An Adventure of the Thought Police.'' London: Ferry Press, 1971. *''Dreams.'' New York: Angel Hair Books, 1973. *''Since 1964: New and selected poems''. New York: Sun, 1978. *''The Brute: New poems''. Los Angeles: Little Caesar Press, 1981. Non-fiction *'David Salle : an interview with David Salle. New York: Vintage, 1987. *''The 7 Days Art Columns, 1988-1990''. Great Barrington, MA: The Figures, 1990. *''Let's See: Writings on art from The New Yorker''. New York & London: Thames & Hudson, 2008. Catalogues *''De Kooning''. West Palm Beach, FL: Norton Gallery of Art, 1975. *''Robert Hudson''. Philadelphia: Moore College of Art Gallery, 1977. *''Samara's Pastels''. Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum, 1981. *''Art of Our Time: The Saatchi collection'' (with others). (3 volumes), London: Lund & Humphries / New York: Rizzoli, 1985. *''Richard Deacon''. New York: Marian Goodman Gallery / London: Lisson Gallery, 1988. *''Liza Lou'' (with Marcia Tucker). Santa Monica, CA: Smart Art Press in association with the Santa Monica Museum of Art, 1998. *''Eric Fischl: Paintings and drawings, 1979-2001'' (with Annelie Lütgens). Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2003. Collected editions *''The Hydrogen Jukebox: Selected writings of Peter Schjeldahl, 1978-1990'' (edited by Malin Wilson). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991. *''Columns and Catalogues''. Great Barrington, MA: The Figures, 1994. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Peter Schjeldahl, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 6, 2015. See also *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Some poems by Peter Schheldahl ;Audio / video *Peter Schjeldahl at YouTube * Watch Peter Schjeldahl lecture at Boston University's School of Visual Arts on BUniverse ;Books *Peter Schjeldahl at Amazon.com ;About *Yay: Peter Schjeldahl Talks About the Failed Poet’s Good Writing at the Poetry Foundation *Wolgamott, Kent. Interview with Peter Schjeldahl at Blackbird, 2004. *Chance Abutmenting (A Counter-critique of Peter Schjeldahl) by Miles Mathis Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:American art critics Category:American poets Category:People from Fargo, North Dakota Category:Writers from North Dakota Category:Carleton College alumni Category:Harvard University faculty Category:The New Yorker people Category:The New Yorker critics Category:The New Yorker staff writers Category:American people of Norwegian descent Category:Frank Jewett Mather Award winners Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets